May 2010. Stephanie died peacefully on 19th April after a short stay in hospital. She had been suffering from acute cervical cancer. Fred will continue to run the business to the best of his ability. The web site is slowly getting under control again
as he tries to take over some of Stephanie's responsibilities, and learns some of the mysteries of Dreamweaver.

The Zenith 35 mm. single lens reflex
cameras are reliable and cheap, making them ideal cameras
for the beginner or anyone on a tight budget. Later
models - from about 1969 - take M42 screw fitting lenses
and this means that inexpensive lenses are fairly easily
obtained.

Early Zeniths take 39 mm. screw
fitting lenses but note that Leica-type lenses will not
register and are therefore incompatible, despite the fact
they are also 39 mm. screw fitting.

There are a lot of different models of
Zenith 35 mm. camera, far more than I can list here, but
here are the ones which are seen most
commonly.

The Zenith 3 was
made from about 1960 until about 1962. It has a focal
plane shutter giving speeds from one-thirtieth of a
second up to one five-hundredth of a second, and B, a
co-axial flash socket and a self-timer. There is no
accessory shoe. Supplied with a 50 mm. f/3.5 4 element
lens, the Zenith 3 cost nearly £30 in 1963, whereas
with a 58 mm. f/2 6 element lens it was over
£44.

The Zenith 3M
is very similar to the Zenith 3. It was made from about
1962 until about 1970. It has a few improvements, notably
a lever wind. It was also supplied with a choice of f/3.5
and f/2 lenses, costing almost £31 and over £46
respectively. A special version, not imported into the
UK, was made in 1967 and engraved to commemorate fifty
years of Communism in Russia.

The Zenith E is
similar to the Zenith 3M but it has a built-in uncoupled
selenium exposure meter (range 20 ASA to 650 ASA), Some
Zenith E cameras were made for 39 mm. screw fitting
lenses but most take 42 mm. screw fitting pre-set lenses.
It was made, in various versions, from about 1965 until
about 1982 and over that time more than 3 million cameras
were produced. The most common commemorative edition is
the "Olympic" model which is engraved to mark the 1980
Moscow Olympic Games. It was normally supplied with a
Helios-44 58 mm. f/2 lens and in 1968 it cost over
£41. This camera is extremely common and it
represents a good beginner's camera - indeed, I had an
"E" as my first s.l.r.

The Zenith EM
is similar to the Zenith E but takes automatic lenses. It
was made from about 1972 until abut 1984. In 1981, it
cost about £60.

The Zenith B is
the same as the Zenith E but does not have the built-in
meter. It was produced from about 1968 until about
1973.

The Zenith BM
is like the Zenith EM but does not have the built-in
exposure meter. It was produced for only a very short
period but its design forms the basis for the range of
cameras that followed, all taking automatic
lenses.

The Zenith TTL
has a coupled t.t.l. CdS meter, operating when the
shutter release is partially depressed to stop the lens
down. This procedure requires lenses with auto diaphragm
operation - manual lenses must be stopped down when
metering. In addition, the ground glass focusing of the
earlier models is replaced by a micro-prism rangefinder.
The TTL was made from about 1977 until 1985 and it is
claimed that over one and a half million Zenith TTL
cameras were sold, which may account for the numbers seen
second-hand now. Unlike the E and EM, which require no
batteries, the Zenith TTL requires one 1.3 v. mercury
battery or equivalent.

The Zenith 11
is very similar to the Zenith EM, but it has a few minor
changes, such as the addition of a hot shoe. Well over a
million of these cameras were produced between about 1981
and 1990.

Choosing a Zenith camera is simple;
avoid the models which take 39 mm. screw fitting lenses
unless you are certain that the camera you buy comes with
all the lenses you would ever want - 39 mm. lenses can be
harder to find and more costly than 42 mm. screw fitting
lenses. Decide whether you can handle the irritation (I
found it a major irritation) that comes with using
pre-set lenses - if not, get one of the later cameras
which take automatic lenses.

Pre-set
lenses

A pre-set lens has no linkage between
the lens and the camera body. Therefore the cameras user
must operate a ring on the lens to open up to full
aperture for focusing and then stop down to the required
aperture manually before taking the picture. People tell
me that they get into a routine and that this presents no
problems but I used my Zenith for four years and never
got used to it.

Automatic
lenses

The most common M42 automatic lens
arrangement has a stud on the lens mount which provides a
linkage between the camera body and the lens. The camera
user sets the aperture but the lens remains at full
aperture for focusing, only stopping down to the required
aperture when the shutter release is pressed. The greater
convenience of automatic lenses means that the cameras
and lenses are often more expensive than their pre-set
equivalents.

A pre-set lens, used on an automatic
camera, will function as a pre-set lens.

You cannot use an automatic lens on a
non-auto camera unless the lens in question has an
auto/manual switch; if so, it can be used as a manual
i.e. not pre-set lens.